Microsoft slams Facebook's Free Basics plan

Microsoft has jumped right into the middle of the ongoing intense battle over Facebook’s plan to provide some Internet services free of charge.Surabhi Agarwal | ET Bureau | Updated: December 25, 2015, 10:51 IST

Microsoft has jumped right into the middle of the ongoing intense battle over Facebook’s plan to provide some Internet services free of charge with a reprimand of the social network for the way it has characterised the Free Basics scheme.

In a rare intervention, the chairman of Microsoft India said that Facebook’s intention may be "noble" but to describe Free Basics as compliant with net neutrality — the notion that all content on the Internet is equal — is not justified, Bhaskar Pramanik told ET.

"I don’t think what Facebook is doing is about net neutrality; it is about helping first-time users get on the Internet and they should call it that," Pramanik said on Thursday. "But to muddy it and say that it is also net neutral doesn’t make sense."

Pramanik’s remarks could embolden advocates of Internet freedom who have been campaigning to ban Free Basics because they believe it violates the principle of net neutrality by tilting the balance in favour of services that are part of the Facebook scheme. His intervention could also spur startup founders — with the exception of Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma — who have been largely silent, to speak up on the issue.

Over the past few days, Facebook as well as net neutrality activists have intensified their respective campaigns, and the telecom regulator has stepped in and directed Reliance Communications to provide the terms and conditions of Free Basics while asking the carrier not to offer the service until it submits the details. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has set a December 30 deadline to submit comments on the consultation paper on differential pricing for data services, which has reignited the debate on net neutrality.

Facebook, which has partnered with Reliance Communications for the scheme, has been arguing that a ban will harm ‘digital equality’. It did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

In addition to Facebook and Facebook Messenger, some of the services which would have been offered free of data charges include Wikipedia, vernacular news providers and Bing search from Microsoft.

NEW USERS OF INTERNET

Pramanik said that Microsoft supports Facebook’s intention of making available a set of software and services to every new user of the Internet for free, which will make it easier for them to become regular users of the technology. "We believe in net neutrality, we believe that the Internet should be free of any constraints … that was the whole intent of the Internet," he said.

He emphasised that what Facebook is doing and net neutrality are two separate issues, and that Free Basics is not completely free. "Somebody is paying for it. And the problem then is that if the operator or a service provider has the right to pay for it, then it limits smaller or any other organisation (not part of Free Basics)," he said. "I think we need to be very clear that net neutrality means that everybody has the same advantages or disadvantages."

Pramanik suggested that since operators can’t give everything for free, they should charge "realistic" and affordable rates. "If they (users) are going to be charged more for a certain set of applications of their choice and directed only to the certain set because the operator says I will give you those for free, then where is there net neutrality?" he asked.

On Tuesday, Paytm’s Sharma sent out a series of tweets, with one of them reading: "Oh my fellow Indians, either choose this & do a jihaad for independent Internet later or pick #NetNeutrality today."

Activists part of the SavetheInternet coalition have also been reaching out to India’s startup unicorns such as Flipkart and Zomato, but they have yet not joined the debate publicly